The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Tolkien's 'Smith of Wootton Major' & George MacDonald's 'Phantastes': A Comparison

littlemanpoet · 10-13-2006, 10:22 PM

Thanks on the sig.

I see the Smith's star and Anodos' shadow as opposites in effect, though not exactly. Whereas Smith's star allows him entry, Anodos' shadow does not take away entry, but it ruins his ability to perceive Fairy.

Which makes Anodos' shadow more comparable to the Ring, especially as Frodo gets closer to Mordor. Both are meant to be undersgood as maleficent entities with their own wills. The Ring so overwhelms Frodo's perceptions that he is blinded (as if by the sun) to everything else. The shadow merely takes away Anodo's ability to see what's really there.

The palace invisibles are also comparable to the Elves passing through the Shire. In the first section of Shadows of the Past, there is a rather important exchange between Samwise Gamgee and Ted Sandyman in which Ted doubts that Elves pass through the Shire at all, and elsewhere Tolkien describes their passage (near the end of LotR) as like shadows beneath the moonbeam, or something like that. The upshot is that those whose sight is compromised by guilt (in the case of Anodos) or disbelief (in the case of Ted Sandyman), can't see what's really there.

10-13-2006, 10:22 PM	#9
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Thanks on the sig. I see the Smith's star and Anodos' shadow as opposites in effect, though not exactly. Whereas Smith's star allows him entry, Anodos' shadow does not take away entry, but it ruins his ability to perceive Fairy. Which makes Anodos' shadow more comparable to the Ring, especially as Frodo gets closer to Mordor. Both are meant to be undersgood as maleficent entities with their own wills. The Ring so overwhelms Frodo's perceptions that he is blinded (as if by the sun) to everything else. The shadow merely takes away Anodo's ability to see what's really there. The palace invisibles are also comparable to the Elves passing through the Shire. In the first section of Shadows of the Past, there is a rather important exchange between Samwise Gamgee and Ted Sandyman in which Ted doubts that Elves pass through the Shire at all, and elsewhere Tolkien describes their passage (near the end of LotR) as like shadows beneath the moonbeam, or something like that. The upshot is that those whose sight is compromised by guilt (in the case of Anodos) or disbelief (in the case of Ted Sandyman), can't see what's really there.